The S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum will be featured in an upcoming episode of the PBS show History Detectives. The episode explores a privately owned flag that is linked to the largely forgotten African- American 371st Infantry Regiment, which fought in World War I and members were mainly from South Carolina.

The flag's owner contacted History Detectives

to investigate its authenticity. The show's producers then contacted the museum because it has two 371st flags in its collection, one of which is currently on display in the exhibit "Forgotten Stories: SC Fights the Great War."

In January, the production crew filmed a portion of the episode at the museum, interviewing Sarah Wooton, chief curator of Collections and Exhibitions, about the 371st Regiment and the flags.

The episode will air July 7, 2008, as part of the sixth season of History Detectives.

Founded in 1896, the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is the oldest museum in the Columbia area. The museum focuses on South Carolina's military history from the Revolutionary War to the present War on Terror.

About the 371st Regiment

The 371st Infantry Regiment formed in August 1917 and consisted of African-American draftees mostly from South Carolina. After training at Camp Jackson, the unit arrived on the Western Front in April 1918. It was placed under the command of the French Army because of their desperate need for new troops and out of fear that racial tension might erupt between African- American and white American soldiers. The regiment relieved the exhausted French and allied Italian units and fought until the end of the war.